CNI News
9 Feb 2023
Although the Agriculture Department has sold urea fertilizer to farmers at MMK 50,000 per bag, farmers did not receive any fertilizer, according to farmers in the state.
It was reported that the fertilizer was distributed not to farmers directly but to administrators, who sold the fertilizer into the market, Farmer U Than Swe from Kyauktaw told the CNI.
He said, "They said they would give fertilizer to farmers who cultivate summer paddy and gave fertilizer to administrators but farmers never received it because they sold it in the market. Farmers want fertilizer distributed to them because it is distributed at MMK 50,000 per bag. It is very expensive in the market."
Farmers transplanting seedlings
The current distribution system has been used for successive eras and farmer have lost their rights, Chairman U Kyaw Zan of Rakhine State Peasant Union told the CNI.
He said, "Actually, the Agriculture Department has to inspect what was happening because they have been communicating with peasant organizations. Instead of distributing fertilizer to the General Administration Department, it should have contacted farmers directly.
Otherwise, it will be difficult for farmers to receive fertilizer. Farmers lost their rights. They have been doing the same in successive eras."
The government has been distributing fertilizer to farmers who grow summer paddy and sunflower and plans are underway to do so for farmers who grow monsoon paddy.
Farmers transplanting seedlings
When the Myanmar Petrochemical Enterprise can produce fertilizers, plans are underway to distribute fertilizer to farmers based on the rationion system, Rakhine State Agriculture Department Officer U Tun Myint told the CNI.
He said, "We are not distributing fertilizer to farmers directly. There are fertilizer distribution committees in townships formed by township administrators. They have managed distribution of fertilizer to give priority to those who need it. We are distributing fertilizers depending on the production of it by the petrochemical enterprise."
As the prices of fertilizers, pesticides and fule are high, it is necessary for the government to distribute them to farmers sufficiently and inspect whether they received them, according to farmers.
